Excitation of a Single Atom with Exponentially Rising Light Pulses

Aljunid, S. A.; Maslennikov, Gleb; Wang, Yimin; Dao, H. L.; Scarani, Valerio; Kurtsiefer, Christian

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.111.103001

Cited by 68 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…For example, photons, having identical Lorentzian spectral shapes, can exhibit opposite temporal shapes -exponential decaying or rising -depending on spectral distribution of the phase. As a result, photons with exponential decaying shape excite a two-level atom in free space only with 50% efficiency, while exponentially rising photons with 100% efficiency [4][5][6]. There are other situations where the temporal photon shape is important: symmetric shape is optimal for cavity QED quantum communication [7]; Gaussian shape is superior for experiments relying on single-photon interference [8].…”

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confidence: 99%

Temporal shaping of single photons enabled by entanglement

et al. 2017

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We propose a method to produce pure single photons with an arbitrary designed temporal shape in a heralded, lossless and scalable way. As the indispensable resource, the method uses pairs of time-energy entangled photons. To accomplish the shaping, one photon of a pair undergoes temporal modulation according to the desired shape. Subsequent frequency-resolving detection of the photon heralds its entangled counterpart in a pure quantum state with a temporal shape non-locally affected by the modulation. We found conditions for the shape of the heralded photon to reproduce the modulation function. The method can be implemented with various sources of time-energy entangled photons. In particular, using entangled photons from the parametric down-conversion the method enables generation of pure photons with tunable shape within unprecedentedly broad range of temporal durations -from tenths of femtoseconds to microseconds. Proposed shaping of single photons will push forward implementation of scalable multidimensional quantum information protocols, efficient photon-matter coupling and quantum control at the level of single quanta.Single photons are indispensable tool in quantum information, quantum communication and quantum metrology [1]. Depending on specific application, photons must be tuned in wavelength, bandwidth, polarization, and other degrees of freedom. For example, to transmit information over optical fibers one uses photons at telecom wavelengths, while photonatom coupling requires wavelength and bandwidth of photons matched to the corresponding atomic transition.It has been realized in the last decade that full control over the spatio-temporal shape of a single photon light [2, 3] is required in a number of applications. For example, photons, having identical Lorentzian spectral shapes, can exhibit opposite temporal shapes -exponential decaying or rising -depending on spectral distribution of the phase. As a result, photons with exponential decaying shape excite a two-level atom in free space only with 50% efficiency, while exponentially rising photons with 100% efficiency [4][5][6]. There are other situations where the temporal photon shape is important: symmetric shape is optimal for cavity QED quantum communication [7]; Gaussian shape is superior for experiments relying on single-photon interference [8]. Furthermore, development of sources of shaped photons will push forward photonic implementation of high-dimensional quantum information protocols, e.g. quantum key distribution [9][10][11][12][13][14].Present-day methods for producing temporally shaped photons can be divided in two groups: single photons are shaped either during the generation process or photon shaping is performed after the generation. Methods of the first group are typically based on control of quantum emitters (single atom [15,16], ion [17], atomic ensemble [18], quantum dot [19]). Development of these methods is promising for deterministic production of shaped photons, however the methods often require sophisticated and costly setup...

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Temporal shaping of single photons enabled by entanglement

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“…The beam profile before L 1 is approximately Gaussian, with a waist w L = 2.7 mm. Following [13,31], the spatial mode overlap Λ of the Gaussian mode focused by an ideal lens with the dipole mode of a stationary atom depends on the focusing strength u := w L /f ,…”

Section: Experimental Setup and Measurement Sequencementioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the role of thermal motion in free-space light-atom interaction

2017

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“…This has been studied theoretically for single atoms and ions [101,128,132]. In addition to spatial mode matching, it is also necessary to match the temporal profile of the driving field or pulse with that of the emitted radiation [133]. However, we shall be considering a continuous driving field and therefore assume this condition is satisfied.…”

Section: Chapter 8 Extinction In a Two-dimensional Atomic Monolayermentioning

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Cooperative Interactions in Lattices of Atomic Dipoles

Bettles

2017

Springer Theses

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Coherent radiation by an ensemble of scatterers can dramatically modify the ensemble's optical response. This can include, for example, enhanced and suppressed decay rates (superradiance and subradiance respectively), energy level shifts, and highly directional scattering. This behaviour is referred to as cooperative, since the scatterers in the ensemble behave as a collective rather than independently. In this Thesis, we investigate the cooperative behaviour of one-and two-dimensional arrays of interacting atoms.We calculate the extinction cross-section of these arrays, analysing how the cooperative eigenmodes of the ensemble contribute to the overall extinction. Typically, the dominant eigenmode if the atoms are driven by a uniform or Gaussian light beam is the mode in which the atomic dipoles oscillate in phase together and with the same polarisation as the driving field. The eigenvalues of this mode become strongly resonant as the atom number is increased. For a one-dimensional array, the location of these resonances occurs when the atomic spacing is an integer or half integer multiple of the wavelength, thus behaving analogously to a single atom in a cavity. The interference between this mode and additional eigenmodes can result in Fano-like asymmetric lineshapes in the extinction.We find that the kagome lattice in particular exhibits an exceptionally strong interference lineshape, like a cooperative analog of electromagnetically induced transparency.Triangular, square and hexagonal lattices however are typically dominated by one single mode which, for lattice spacings of the order of a wavelength, can be highly subradiant.This can result in near-perfect extinction of a resonant driving field, signifying a significant increase in the atom-light coupling efficiency. We show that this extinction is robust to possible experimental imperfections.

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Excitation of a Single Atom with Exponentially Rising Light Pulses

Cited by 68 publications

References 25 publications

Temporal shaping of single photons enabled by entanglement

Temporal shaping of single photons enabled by entanglement

Quantifying the role of thermal motion in free-space light-atom interaction

Cooperative Interactions in Lattices of Atomic Dipoles

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